Tastebud – Craig Ettinger
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About the Episode
What are the marketing channels that you can leverage when launching your app? Well today’s guest talks about the strategies that he used in paid, earned and owned media to get exposure for his app. Also, if you feel like you’re a bit old to launch your own company then listen to the part of the show where he shares how he was able to do it in his mid-40’s.
Craig Ettinger is creator of Tastebud.
Show Notes
How to Use Paid, Earned and Owned Media for Maximum Exposure
- Paid media -simply means buying advertising. This is the quickest and easiest way to gain coverage but can prove expensive.
- Owned media– is leveraging the assets you own. Whether doing search engine, SEO, App Store optimization or doing content marketing, maximizing owned media is all about taking content and leveraging that to draw in users. Craig offers interesting examples of how he maximized owned media. He did blogs about his app on topics such ashow the name of the app came about, how the design of the app icon came to be, he also did a piece on what makes a great design, etc. Craig is pushing creativity in making articles interesting and advises to push these blogs and content writing out on Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit and any other relevant site targeted users frequent.
- Earned media –is PR, word of mouth marketing or the downstream sharing that you get. For PR, Craig compiled a list of all the relevant media outlets that could help. Having established business relationships with most of this people in his previous job, this is definitely an excellent PR reach out to contacts in the media so they could write press about the apps. Word-of-mouth marketing and downstream sharing (otherwise known as the developer’s dream of going viral) usually come after the product is out and has gain a respectable amount of users.
The Advantages of Starting Your Own Company in One’s Mid-40’s
Youth may have the enthusiasm but experience wins out most of the time when it comes to life changing decisions. Craig ably gives credence to this statement when he decided to leave his comfortable but slightly dead end job in Time Inc. to branch out in the brave new world of appreneurship. Craig’s high level thinking on leaving his stable job was basically “I could always go back if this does not work out.” The underlying level headed thinking behind the decision is definitely another story. Craig already had great exposure in the digital world. For instance, he was definitely no novice when it comes to launching a website having done this several times in his 15-year stint with Time Inc. He has established relationships with the press. He knew if he was to come up with an app, or any business for that matter that will need press coverage, he could count on his credibility with the press community and solid business relationship he had built with them. He definitely was confident he could count of these people. In other words, he came in prepared into this brave, new world. This was no spur of the moment decision but rather a well-thought out, calculated risk done with great timing.
Show Mentions
– Fav app: Turbo Scan: (iTunes | Google Play)